It is saddening and hurtful that in our enlightened Israel, tragic events are taking place and the media is tagging the demonstrators as "Ethiopian protesters." Haredi society is comprised of various communities, and I have never heard their countries of origin mentioned when they protest.
The Ethiopian community is one of the youngest in Israel. The protesters must not be tagged as belonging to one ethnicity. At all the centers of protest, I saw white people who are unwilling to stand by in the face of police racism and violence.
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Any intelligent person should act to rip out the bad apples in the Israel Police who are sowing the seeds of hatred, having invented for themselves their own code of conduct, and one that does not align with the laws of the state.
Those same people who call themselves community activists should use their heads and not just be governed by their emotions. They must think of the consequences of their actions. Establish a think tank comprised of all kinds of people with experience in a variety of fields and consolidate plans of action that will benefit the community.
We, who are crying out against the police violence directed against us, must act with restraint and not use violence or block roads. The police have an interest in provoking us in order to justify their actions.
The time has come to wake up. There is a sense of alienation and neglect among members of the younger generation born and raised here in Israel and unwilling to suffer in silence. The state and the local authorities must, therefore, put their heads together and find a permanent solution to the many complex problems.
In the absence of systemic thinking and the punishment of anyone who takes the law into their own hands and kills people, disasters will continue to take place. We must not go easy on members of the community either. The Ethiopian community needs to continue to foster cohesion, and not just in times of crisis.
We must open our eyes to what is happening. There are a lot of anarchists are elbowing their way into the protests with the aim of harming the community and our country. We must not forget: This is our country, and our actions have consequences.
The public and the government need to understand that the community does not see these demonstrations as a popular pastime. They are aimed at giving a voice to the pain and sadness that we feel over the killing and the bleeding wound in our bodies and in our souls.
